I helped Elian up, and the three of us let out a collective sigh.
“Gem betrayed us,” Elian said, leaning on me hard. A slight tremor still rattled his muscles, reverberating into my shoulder. “We planned for everything—everythingbut that.”
Anger rolled off him in hot waves, infecting me and Jax both.
“We’ll deal with her later,” Jax said. “We need to find a way out.”
“There are too many of them.” I blew out a breath. “Once this barrier drops, they’ll attack us.”
“If Keradoc wanted us dead,” Jax said, “we’d already be in the moat.”
“Agreed,” I said, “but there’s a lot of gray area between keeping someone alive and keeping them alive andunharmed. I’m really not in the mood to get my ass kicked.”
“You might not have a choice tonight, angel.” He nodded at the show of force. The guards who weren’t working on dismantling the barrier had their weapons drawn, every last one of them waiting for their shot—waiting for Keradoc to order them to take it.
Keradoc glared at me through the barrier, his eyes blazing, his rage so palpable I could practically taste it. Even through the magick, his sweet rose scent stung the back of my nose.
Memories collided suddenly in my mind, making me shiver. The dance, the sound of my name on his lips, the ferocity of our kiss, all of it spinning around my head like he’d spun me around that ballroom…
My magick flickered.
“Sparrow.” Elian leaned close, his body still trembling and weak. “You… you need to go.”
On my other side, Jax nodded. “We’ll hold them off. You break for it.”
“Shut up,” I snapped. “Both of you. We go out together, or we go down together. Non-negotiable.”
They tried to argue, but it was pointless. I’d no sooner leave them behind than they’d leave me. The problem was neither of them was strong enough to walk out of here without a lot of help—not when we’d still have to fight our way past the guards and whatever else awaited us outside this room, not to mention the party still raging down on the main level.
Shit, shit, shit!
Where was Hudson? What the hell had Gem done? Where had she gone? Was she still in the castle, waiting in the shadows for another opportunity to stab us in the back?
I glanced around frantically for another escape, my magick waning. Everywhere I looked, I saw another guard. Another obstacle. Another dead end.
I wanted to roar. After all that blood and magick, after finally getting the guys on their feet, we were no better off than when Keradoc’s guards had dumped them on the floor. Elian didn’t have the strength for a vampire blur, Jax didn’t have the energy to work his fear mojo, and my magick was completely tapped out.
The barrier surrounding us faded to a dull pink.
We had minutes. Maybe seconds.
The guys closed ranks around me.
And then, with nothing more than a soft hiss, the magick fizzled out, leaving us completely exposed.
4
HALEY
Hold your fire.” Keradoc lifted a hand to the guards behind us, but his eyes were locked on mine, his gaze triumphant.
I felt Jax and Elian tense beside me, both of them spring-loaded for an attack.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “We’re severely outnumbered.”
“Never stopped us before,” Jax said.
“Certain death?” Elian laughed. “I like the odds here, brother.”
